Nothing but the Ruth

Our year on the allotment is coming to an end and I have to admit to feeling gloomy at the prospect of not being there to watch the new shoots of growth next spring.

Ruth is reclaiming the allotment and we must step aside, something that seemed easier to acknowledge last spring than it does now faced with the reality of it this autumn.

On Thursday morning, I went up to see if I could exorcise some of my feeling of loss. It was a beautiful and still autumnal day, the sun, now lower in the sky at noon was not able to reach over the tops of the tall trees surrounding the allotment. I was thoroughly expecting to be alone there and have the chance to reflect upon things, but I rounded the to corner to find Ruth in amongst the last of the beans doing some tidying. She beamed a big smile at me as she took out the beanpoles, she looked so happy to be there preparing things for the coming seasons. She had already cleared a lot of ground and had started to imagine what she was going to plant and where.

Ruth gets working making the plot hers againPhotograph: Howard Sooley

A new asparagus bed had been dug and prepared, our hedges of fennel and tagetes, that had helped us define our plot, were going or gone.

It is something I knew would happen, but still it was a shock to see the plot's transformation to reflect another vision.

Ruth seemed to be thriving on it, I can't think I have ever seen her look so full of energy or life, or come to think of it so comfortable there. It was an uplifting sight me and I was in need of an uplift. I felt as though a page was turning and the story was going on.....and I felt a curious feeling, that upon reflection....... might have been happiness.

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